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Between a Raccoon and a Hard Place
The story opens on a poster of Enzo Matrix the Guardian crosseyed with the words Guardian Schmardian painted across it. The camera moves through dark streets and sitting in the middle of a sector is a Game Cube with many binomes running in terror from it. It seems that neither Dot or Enzo made it to the cube in time, the sector is doomed, the camera turns towards the Principal Office. Where Enzo is claiming that he tried to get to the game cube but Megabytes troops prevented it. Phong tells Dot and Enzo that Megabyte had done this once before and Bob had no way of preventing it either. 'Game over, the User wins'. Enzo screams. Outside Mike the TV is reporting the disaster 'Where was our guardian when we needed him?... So many binomes nullified.' Then Hack and Slash appear and stop the reporting by grabbing the camera. It's voluntary censorship, or involuntary censorship as they refer to it. Inside the Principal Office Dot tells a couple of binomes to get to the pit where the sector has been destroyed, but Mouse discovers that Megabyte is sending in a team of ABC's to take control of the area. There are not enough CPU forces available to help. At the sector some binomes are sifting through the rubble, picking up a blue cuddly teddy from a pile of rocks. Surrounded by ABC's Megabytes vid window pops up claiming that as of now the sector is under his control and all the binomes must hand their PID's to him. A Jean-Luc binome claims '....We are tired of living in fear, the line must be drawn here.' Meagabyte tells an ABC tank to delete him. His smoking boots are seen as Megabyte claims '...resistance is futile'. They all hand in their PID's as Megabyte laughs his evil laugh. Elsewhere Cyrus is seen posting up the 'Guardian Schmardian' Propaganda, to divide the binome population and conquer them. Phong has an idea to make Enzo a game hero, a hero to lead them out of the darkness. Dot says that Phong is suggesting that Enzo plays a game on his own, which he hasn't done before. Mouse tells Dot that she must stay in the Principal Office while Mouse takes care of AndrAIa and Enzo in the games. Phong tells Mouse that neither Mouse nor AndrAIa's icons are formatted to enter Games. Mouse uses a workstation to configure AndrAIa's back-up which changes to a reboot symbol. She is not sure whether it will work or not. Now they are ready to enter a Game. Dot and Phong are formulating some form of plan to get Enzo to the game without being intercepted. Dot tells Phong that Megabyte will never be able to get to the supercomputer with Bob gone. Phong tells Dot 'Bob has effectively locked them in the cage with the tiger.' Megabytes troops are ready for the next Game. Megabyte tells them not to harm Enzo. Two of Megabyte's binomes pick up a scanner trace of two sprites leaving the principal office. It's Dot and Enzo. They order the ABC's to close in as the Game Cube descends. As they reach Dot and Enzo it is revealed that Dot and Enzo are cardboard cutouts held up by binomes on zip boards. Suddenly the sky is filled with Dots and Enzos, and amongst the scuffle, Enzo (as Dot) AndrAIa (as Enzo) and Mouse (as Dot) drop their disguises and head towards the Game Cube. AndrAIa fools Mouse into thinking that her zip board power is failing and in the process takes Mouse's board away, and follows Enzo into the Cube. Leaving Mouse on the outside. Inside the Game Cube, AndrAIa and Enzo are greeted by a hillbilly prospecter binome in a sort of cartoon desert location. The binome recognises Enzo, and tells him he's only a kid. Meanwhile, Megabyte is visiting Hexadecimal where she is being repaired. The modifications include a collar which allows Megabyte to control Hex whenever he wants, and proves it by activating the collar and making Hex fall to her knees when she wishes to walk away. AndrAIa tells the binome that Enzo has Bob's Key Tool (which is broken) which can tell them the Game status. The binome tells Enzo to use his eyes, and to turn around to look at a blazing sign which says, 'Rocky' 'The Rabid Raccoon' It's Reboot time, AndrAIa becomes a biker babe, while poor Enzo ends up as a large headed hunter with a shotgun and a speech impediment, 'Oh, wight, I'm a Guardian now, am I?' Out from a distance comes a mad looking raccoon who bounces around the desert from rocks to cacti. Pulls a face, spots AndrAIa and proceeds to give her a very wet and unpleasant kiss, much to her disgust. He disappears off into the distance; 'He's too fast', exclaims AndrAIa, Enzo tells her to be 'Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting waccoons.' He fires and through a convoluted manner rebounds off objects, drains petrol pumps and eventually explodes a box of fireworks, which fires into the sky, hitting a passing bird, turning it into a roasted bird which falls onto the head of Rocky, who is then run over by a train which appears from nowhere. One life gone. Mouse explains to Dot that AndrAIa stole her Zip Board. Phong says that AndrAIa would never harm anyone because she loves Enzo. Dot says she's running out of plans. Enzo, AndrAIa and the Hillbilly binome head on a motorcycle down the desert highway. With Rocky in pursuit, he steals the bike causing the bunch to fall. Rocky heads for a missile silo, fires the missile and heads to level two through the silo hole. The missile heads skywards then heads back. Enzo claims that they need to head from the level, before they get blown up. They look over the edge of the level to levels below and jump into a tree, where they are greeted by a couple of binomes in black country style clothing. AndrAIa knocked out the hillbilly binome before heading down, and whilst he is lying on the ground the female binome tells Enzo, 'You're not like Bob are ya, When Bob rescues you to stay conscious for sure.' Meanwhile, Rocky is hitting moles over the head with a large hammer as they pop out of holes. 'Frustrating ain't it?' He heads down to a bonus level to get a life point. Down in the bonus level they are trying to get the life point coin before the raccoon, above their heads a manhole cover opens and a hose is dropped by AndrAIa. They grab a hold and are pulled upwards leaving Rocky to be beaten up by a bunch of skeleton binomes. Two lives down, one life to go. In a subway level Rocky is searching for food to replenish his energy. He finds a food machine with 'Java' written on it, guarded by a Rasta binome singing for his own supper; 'Raccoon searching high and low - For the food to make him go - If I catch him in my trap (whips out a machete) Gonna make me a raccoon hat!' Rocky runs for it. An unguarded machine labeled 'Mashed Potatoes' is unresponsive - perhaps sabotaged. Another machine labeled 'Cup of Pork' is guarded by a binome in a long coat - a flasher who opens his jacket, letting something unseen hit the ground with a resounding thud. This sends Rocky running to the streets above, where a mob of binomes are waiting with pitchforks and other makeshift weapons. They drive him into a back alley - where he is quickly trapped in fresh tar. Enzo and AndrAIa smugly appear driving a steamroller and flatten Rocky. Game Over. Out of the game Enzo is surrounded by the binomes involved in the Game, but can't immediately see AndrAIa fearing that her icon has kept her in the game, but luckily she is behind him. Above their heads a team of ABC's have appeared, Enzo faces them and they fly away. Behind Enzo is a large team of CPU carriers, which reveal themselves to be binomes with cardboard carriers standing on zip boards. Enzo tells the crowds, 'Megabyte will be vewy, vewy angry.' References *The episode title is a play on the common phrase "Between a rock and a hard place" from Dialect Notes V, 1921. *Mike the TV speaks theatrically when the sector is nullified "Oh, the circuitry, the circuitry!" which emulates as Herbert Morrison's plaintive words "Oh, the humanity, the humanity!" during the LZ 129 Hindenburg disaster of 1937. *Megabyte says "resistance is futile", an allusion to the Borg from Star Trek. *The Jean-Luc Binome declared, "we are tired of living in fear. A line must be drawn here." parodies a speech Captain Jean-Luc Picard made in the 1996 film 'Star Trek First Contact'. *The license plate on a broken truck in the Game's first level shows "28IF", borrowing from the Volkswagen seen in Beatle's "Abbey Road" 1969 album cover. *The sign "Gassy Jacks" in the Game refers to the 'Gassy Jack statue' in Gastown, Vancouver, where ReBoot is produced. Its name originates from "Gassy" Jack Deighton, a British steamboat captain who opened the town's first saloon. *The prospector Binome in the game is a parody of American actor Walter Brennan. *The "Rocky the Rabid Raccoon" sign floating in the air mimics Warner Brother's Looney Toons/Merry Melodies opening titles. *The tires on AndrAIa's bike say "Cifelli" which is a play on 'Pirelli Tires' one of world's largest manufactors and suppliers of tires. *Enzo reboots into a parody of Elmer J. Fudd, a classic Warner Brothers cartoon character. He even resembles the hunter's appearance, double barrel shotgun, similar speech impediment and disproportioned head. *Rocky the Rabid Raccoon character is a cross between Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog and Warner Brothers' The Road Runner. *Rocky's name originates from a Beatles 1968 song "Rocky Raccoon" featured in the double-disc album 'The Beatles' (also known as 'The White Album') written by Paul McCartney. *Many of the Game's gags used are characteristic of Looney Toons comical antics particularly those from Chuck Jones and style of Tex Avery cartoons. *Enzo says "Be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting waccoons!" which mirrors Elmer Fudd's memorable line "Be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits!". *The vulture is a parody of Looney Tunes' cartoon character "Beaky Buzzard". *As the high-speed train flattens Rocky "9702" is visible on one of carriages, this episode's production number. *A Smily Face is on the warhead of the rocket Rocky launches. First devised by Harvey Ross Ball in 1963. *The farmer and wife Binomes on Level 2 are dressed identical to the couple from Grant Wood's 1930 painting "American Gothic". *Rocky plays an arcade mini-game of "Whack-A-Mole". Invented in 1971 by Aaron Fechter of Creative Engineering Inc. *The manhole cover has the 'KS CJ' on the lid. *In the suburban level, the skyline of Toronto is visible, notably the CN tower. *The subway train has graffiti which reads "Bob is dead", "Faulkner" and "What is understood doesn't need to be discussed" backwards. *The coffee vending machine in the subway is labelled "JAVA". Java is a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems as a core component of Sun's Java platform in 1995. *Two other vending machines display 'Mashed Potatoes' and 'Cup-o-Pork'. *A Data Bone advertisement poster showing Frisket with the underlying text "Keep him crunching" is in the background. *The garbage dumpster in the city reads "ROT.10". *A punk Binome helping Enzo has Checkered plate metal skin. *The way Rocky is crushed by a steam-roller references the demise of Judge Doom in the 1988 film 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?'. *At the end of the episode a Binome dressed as Usagi Tsukino from "Sailor Moon" makes an appearance. Created by Naoko Takeuchi. *This is the Second Episode out of the two Season Three episodes not to be repeated in the UK after it's original air date (The other being To Mend and Defend) for unspecified reasons. For more information, see ReBoot in the UK *This is the only episode of Season 3 in which Frisket does not appear. Category:Episodes